Bavarian Beir Cafe is located in the old St Andrews Church building in Parramatta - a very impressive and beautiful setting indeed. The main dining room is enormous and retains just enough of a touch of its former church-i-ness that it doesn't feel too sacrilegious downing the great vats of beer/bier on offer.
The "small" 350ml Bier glasses here hold about 10 times what I would normally drink...but when in a faux German Bier Hall I like to go with the flow. The Boy choose a Stiegl Goldbräu ($11 for 500ml) and I went for the Franziskaner Lemon Weissbier ($7.50 for 350ml), a type of wheat beer with a splash of Limonata. YUM, German shandy!
Because I was still getting over the epic degustation from Restaurant Arras the previous night I convinced The Boy to share the Münchner Brauhaus Platter ($37.70) with me - though there has got to be no way one person could eat all of this meat...or is there?
The platter contains generous serves of Crackling Roast Pork Belly (best crackling - so salty and crunchy), Char-Grilled Kassler (aka Ham Steak), Sausages, Chicken Schnitzel, Sauerkraut, Red Cabbage and Sebago Mash. Up until this point I have despised Sauerkraut and Red Cabbage Sauerkraut beyond all reason - but I have to say these guys have changed my mind. YUM!
For the price I think this is an excellent option when sharing with someone else. And good news is that most of the meat here is Organic and Free Range which I think is impressive for chain of restaurants used to churning out big numbers of meals.
I order a token Side Salad ($6.00) just so my arteries know I care about them...sort of.
After our meal we waddled down to Prince Alfred Park to catch a show in the fabulous Spiegletent that is was visiting Parramatta as part of Sydney Festival. I really hope that Parramatta has such a great line of events at next years' festival as it's been wonderful to have so many events right on our doorstep.
And our show - we saw the fabulous Ed Kuepper, an oldie but a goodie who I haven't seen in concert for about 15 years (yes I'm THAT old)!
Bavarian Bier Cafe is at 2-8 Phillip Street, Parramatta. Phone them on 8836 1400.
